Hello all.
We are a family of 4 with a 14yo and a 7yo.
I'm a non-English citizen, the rest of the family are an English/Scottish mix. In the past we have lived in Scottish Highlands, in Edinburgh and it's outskirts.
The last 3 years and a bit we have spent living in rural Portugal, on a project farm (or a constant building site to put it simply), with some livestock, pets, in a small village where kids go to local school.
Living in Portugal has proven to be more challenging than we have expected. It is not dreadful and we don't hate it, just as we never hated our life in the UK. However, we have been humming and harring about possible move back to the UK... Mostly for the sake of the kids - Portuguese youth do not have good prospects in their country and many leave to work abroad. Job market here is truly not great, taxes crippling for an average worker, work ethics are very different from what the UK has to offer. Both kids are relatively happy here but still prefer their homecountry, communication being one of the reasons, grandparents the other...
DH works remotely for a British company, he has a decent salary, nothing flashy, just comfortable enough not to worry about the bills.
I used to work in the UK, my career has always been patchy with many jobs in hospitality and the last few years in pharmaceutical research (closer to my degree). I'm not career oriented at all - I like working for the sense of achievement and to add to domestic budget, but I am also perfectly happy now, just looking after the farm, animals, and general domestic admin.
If we were to move back to the UK it would have to be in a rural/outskirts setting. A house with a garden big enough for our 2 dogs, maybe even some chickens. Clearly in most of the UK such requirement would mean one needs to be on at least 6 figures salary, but Lincolnshire popped up as a relatively affordable place.
My question is: do any of you live in Lincolnshire and could comment on the quality of life there, recommend more specific locations? If we were to move it'd have to be to a place that offers decent choice of activities for kids. They currently do swimming, music lessons and jiujitsu, all of those either in our village or within half an hour drive.
I know that Lincolnshire is known to be more on the conservative side, that suits us fine. What I do want to avoid at all cost is really run down places - visible drug addiction issues, homelesness, petty crime.
I would really greatly appreciate first hand experiences :-)
I'm happy to offer advice on Portuguese living in exchange!